What is Systemic Therapy

Systemic therapy might seem like a weird and uninteresting kind of therapy and after this blog post you might still think so. When I say systemic I mean; relationship, reciprocal, dynamic, and emotional process. Within a relationship there is a process happening between two people. Each person participates in the relationship and that creates a relationship process. Michael Kerr has a diagram of this in his book “Bowen Theory’s Secrets” where you can see the cycle two people participate in. A medical model would look at a cause and effect dynamic or A + B = C. With Kerr’s cycle there is not blame or causation. It does not matter who started the process, just that both people are creating it. This is a systemic outlook rather than a medical outlook. Our society is built upon the medical model which looks for a root cause and that is how we are shaped to fix problems. Let me be clear; I am not saying the medical model is a problem but showing a different way to looking at a person, relationship, family system, and society.

Bowen’s systemic theory says each person within a family is participating in a certain way that creates an emotional process (system). The creates an emotional atmosphere that people react to which influences the emotional atmosphere, another process. I am describing one aspect of Bowen Theory. Anxiety, triangles, differentiation, projection process, emotional transmission, and other concepts are affecting this emotional atmosphere but it is important to break down what systemic means before going into those concepts. Bowen Theory is a completely different way to understand the world around us and takes time to comprehend. Our instinct is to find the reason why (especially when stressed). Bowen Theory looks at who, when, where, and what. It opens up your perspective to look at the big picture. We are born into a family system and immediately start participating within it. This happens with each person in a family system (emotional unit). Side note: emotional is a different concept than feeling. Emotional describes what is automatic, instinctual, and part of our survival. It governs most of how we function and goes unnoticed for the most part. Emotional system, emotional unit, emotional process, and emotional transmission are concepts that will be explored in other posts. For now, understanding that emotional is not the same thing as feelings. There are three systems that Bowen discusses; emotional system, feelings system, and thinking system. The feeling system is intimately intertwined with the emotional system. The feeling system is the emotional system, felt.

Natural Family System theory is a systemic theory. It looks sees how two people in a relationship, a dyad, form a relationship process. Both of them are participating whether they realize it or not. This process can be seen in other systems such as families, friend groups, and work environments. Every person in a family is participating in an emotional process that has been going on for generations. This creates an emotional environment that effects its participants and vice versa. Kerr (2019) extended this understanding to nature itself (natural family system) where he gives an example of how trees communicate with each other about where it is safe to grow. The book The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohleben explores how trees communicate. We have more in common with nature than we do different contrary to what most psychology theories say. The processes that govern nature also govern people within their systems and creates an emotional process.

I hope this gave you a better understanding of what systemic means and how to that applies to Bowen Theory. Systemic is something I will continuously come back to and this blog post will be something I update as my understanding grows. I have been studying Natural Family Systems since 2016 and I have so much more to learn!

Check out my first Substack podcast episode where I chat about this post :)